Every time I turn around, there's another silence drowning me

[axver]

This evening, I've been reading a thread on a Dream Theater forum on the topic of realising your favourite band is not your favourite band any more, and this has sparked a number of thoughts for me. Music is possibly the most important thing in my life, even ahead of literature, my academic interests, and railways. When I wake up or study or do

Comments

[screwtape2]

I remember when I realized The Police weren't my favorite artist anymore. At 18 I fell madly in love with the music of Kate Bush. I think it is normal to discover one's favorite artist isn't thier first love. I still love The Police but when looking at the complete discography there is so much more and superior work in Kate Bush's collection. I think it is all normal. I suspect Kate Bush will stay at the top of my list for the rest of my life. I also suspect Porcupine Tree with the depth of amazing work with top your list as well for the long run.

[axver]

You know, I really need to check out Kate Bush's stuff, since you like her music so much. I haven't really listened to much.

I would quite like to have one solid, clear favourite, just because I'm all about consistency in things. Porcupine Tree feels like they're settling in for the long haul but who really knows. Three years ago, I couldn't have imagined U2 ever being anything but my #1.

[screwtape2]

Kate Bush writes the most beautiful music. You might like that side of her work. It is great to write to. She creates some of the best musical landscapes.

See I think the Porcupine Tree discography is so deep that it should keep you interested for a long while. With The Police it was the lack of depth. Just five albums doesn't keep you captivated forever. With U2 it is what 7 good albums for you?

[axver]

I'll definitely have to give an album or two a try. Which do you recommend? I'm always interested in good writing music - The Unforgettable Fire is naturally a favourite there, and I surprisingly enough write very well to some kinds of metal. You might think the harsh aesthetic would be distracting, and indeed some brutal death metal would be, but the more atmospheric and avantgarde bands really stimulate my creativity, e.g. Agalloch, Subterranean Masquerade, Cynic, Wolves In The Throne Room, Ulver

[palinurus]

What I've realized concerning the last few Dream Theater albums is that if one expects them to be good in the same way their 90s albums were...one is going to be disappointed. And actually I think Systematic Chaos is significantly better than either Train or Thought and possibly Octavarium (although I have listened that that album much the least of the three, so I feel uncomfortable making a judgment. "Forsaken" is bizarrely catchy and the way it's driven along by the keyboard melody is very cool. I accept that it's not exactly 'good' in the same way as, say, "Voices" or "Lines in the Sand" (surely two of the best DT songs ever) but I think it's a pretty effective composition. "Constant Motion" and "The Dark Eternal Night" are both disappointing, as are the lyrics to "In The Presence of Enemies" (and you know it's got to be bad when a DT song from the 21st century deserves mention as having especially poor lyrics) but overall I think it's just a pretty decent album

[axver]

See, I absolutely despise Systematic Chaos. It makes me nauseous. I could not imagine a more uninspired, dull, or bland prog metal album. It sounds like Dream Theater are plagiarising all of those DT clone bands, and that's never going to be a good thing. You can't sell me a photocopy of a fax of a rare manuscript and tell me it's just as good as owning the original. I don't even find Forsaken catchy; the one moment I got bored and really started to question if I'd wasted my money when I saw DT was during that song, though that feeling was compounded by the fact I'd just sat through The Dark Eternal Night and watched a pack of n00bs headbanging through it when they probably don't even own Images And Words and looked distinctly bored during Surrounded. I'm just thankful they didn't play The Ministry Of Lost Souls or that Muse reject Prophets Of War, both of which I think are worse than You Not Me

[corianderstem]

I'm amazed U2 have remained my favorite band for so long - probably since .... oh, 1988 or 1989? Although throughout most of the 90s, it alternated between REM and U2, depending on who had a new album and was touring at the time. ;-)

I'm kind of at the point now where I have to take breaks from U2. They're still my all-time favorite band, but I don't get really excited about them until something new comes out, and I get that great feeling of anticipation and excitement, you know?

But the way my mind works, I've loved U2 long enough that they may very well occupy the permanent slot of "Alicia's favorite band of all time," even if I'm going through a phase of hitting "next" on the iPod when a U2 song comes up.

And honestly, even when I'm on a U2 downswing, there's not another band that takes over as "favorite band." For a good chunk of last year, I was madly in love with Muse and Arcade Fire, but I never considered either of them my favorite band. Weird, huh?

[axver]

'Although throughout most of the 90s, it alternated between REM and U2, depending on who had a new album and was touring at the time.'

So judging by U2's comparative rate of output, they were your favourite for about seven or eight seconds of the 1990s? ;)

'I'm kind of at the point now where I have to take breaks from U2. They're still my all-time favorite band, but I don't get really excited about them until something new comes out, and I get that great feeling of anticipation and excitement, you know?'I feel somewhat like this too, at least the first half. I've taken such a long break that some stuff I'm really enjoying now that I come back to it. I love the second side of the Joshua Tree and most of the bonus disc, thanks to the remaster. But I don't really feel much anticipation and excitement about this new album at all. When I hear U2 talking about doing something new and innovative, frankly I don't believe a word of it, not after the last two albums. I expect nothing but fluffy, radio-friendly music from this current

[pineapple_head]

I think what you describe is normal growth as such. I have been passionate about some artists for a decade or more until eventually the ardour fades and they remian much loved, but no longer as essential as they once were

[axver]

'The love of this particular gem has survived but all too often the jarring of an old and familiar soundtrack can remind you of how much you have moved on.'

Yeah. I find it rather surprising that even stuff that meant the world to me four years ago has so dramatically changed its impact on me, though. I suppose I grew up a lot in that time. Certainly plenty changed in 2006. At least I can enjoy nothing of a nostalgia factor.

'These days I prefer to choose a single song of quality rather than relying on one artist to provide it all, but in the end aren't we all richer for having the variety to be able to displace favourites?'Indeed; I can agree with that. I've certainly discovered the difficulty of maintaining a favourite anything. I've stopped identifying anybody, for example, as my favourite guitarist. Many bands I like, I cannot even list my top ten favourite songs. I just enjoy what strikes me in the moment - and these days, more often than not, that's Porcupine Tree or something else involving Steven Wilson, so I wonder

[pineapple_head]

Charting the progress of U2 in my life through the decades is also interesting. By no means a huge fan, or even a particularly knowledgable one, their first single of note - Gloria - stayed with me for many years. Powerful, urgent, and the song that marked them for greatness, was released at a time I was vitally interested in music and not much else.

I loved them through their early years and then fell in and out of love with them as they changed direction, experimented, became wanky and self indulgent, found themselves again and eventually got back to their solid roots.

I am however ashamed to admit that the early U2 albums I own, I havent even bought on CD, instead just buying greatest hits compilations.

My favourite U2 song, and one that can almost make me orgasm with it's lust and power is 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

TMI I think!!

[axver]

Gloria is definitely one of those songs that reminds me why I loved U2 in the first place. It captivates me. I love almost everything they did in the eighties, but I find their early nineties material to oftentimes be boring or simply lacking the special spark that I find in albums like The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. They got something back with the Passengers side project; I adore it. I know some may think it wanky and self-indulgent, including Larry Mullen himself (but I think his opinions are usually terrible and his post-War drumming even worse, so I happily ignore him), but I think on Passengers they made a true work of art and crafted atmospheres the equal of The Unforgettable Fire. I am all about atmospheres in my music. My favourites tend to be extremely predictable - as something I know you'd know, take as an example Together Alone: my top three songs are Kare Kare, Fingers Of Love, and Private Universe